Pictures reveal inside of Afghan caves at 'Mother of All Bombs' blast site

Afghan Special Forces inspect inside a cave which was used by suspected Islamic State militants at the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, AfghanistanCredit:
REUTERS/Parwiz

24 April 2017 • 3:23pm

Pictures have emerged of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) tunnel network in Afghanistan which the US targeted with "the Mother of All Bombs".

The US dropped the bomb - its largest explosive short of a nuclear weapon - on April 13 targeting what it said was a tunnel complex used by the jihadist group’s Afghan affiliate.

The GBU-43/B weighs 21,600lbs (9,797-kg) and was dropped from a cargo plane. It has the equivalent power of 11 tonnes of TNT explosives.

Afghan soldier patrols the area where US forces dropped GBU-43 bomb for the first time against caves used by Islamic State Credit:
EPA/GHULAMULLAH HABIBI

But Reuters photographs from the scene of the blast in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan gave an ambiguous sense of the bomb’s power.

Afghan special forces troops entered one of the caves used by suspected Isil fighters and found the tunnels apparently undamaged by the explosion.

Trees immediately around the blast site had scorched branches and a few small houses were partially destroyed.

A damaged house and burnt trees are seen at the site where a MOAB, or ''mother of all bombs'', struck the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, AfghanistanCredit:
REUTERS/Parwiz

But only a few hundred yards away other trees were perfectly intact and still had leaves on their branches, belying claims that the explosion may have sent a destructive blast wave for up to a mile, according to Reuters.

The bomb was dropped on a remote corner of eastern Afghanistan and it has been difficult to assess exactly what impact it had.

Afghan Special Forces inspect inside a cave which was used by suspected Islamic State militants at the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, AfghanistanCredit:
REUTERS/Parwiz

Afghan officials claimed that nearly 100 militants and no civilians were killed by the blast but those claims have not been independently verified.

The Trump administration pointed to its use of the enormous bomb as a sign of its determination during a tense and ongoing standoff with North Korea.